VIDEO: Canada's Seal Slaughter(02:44) - The standard practices authorized by the Canadian government to kill hundreds of thousands of seals each year.

The bloodiest and most heartbreaking animal slaughter
is carried out and subsidized by the Canadian Government. I started
writing about the terrible killings of millions of animals to show
people exactly what is happening.

The more articles I wrote and the more research I
did the more I became aware that the world has no intention of stopping
these slaughters. Even International Law has had no effect on Japan’s
actions. No matter what horror and heartaches these killings cause they
continue to increase, and and will always continue because on the
world’s apathetic attitude. A few

organizations try desperately to make a difference,
however the brutality continues. I sincerely hope that even a few
people will read my articles and make an effort to at least try
to stop the senseless killings and beatings of these innocent animals.
The more research I do the more discouraged I become. Please help
to stop this slaughter.

May I suggest , at your convenience, you go to ALL-CREATURES.ORG
and see their very large sympathetic website concerning animal treatment.
I have always wondered “Where is God?” and why does he allow humans
to beat animals to death, killing the very creatures he himself
created. ALL-CREATURES touches on the spiritual side of these attacks.

You will find the following facts to be very accurate.
After the article are 18 disturbing photos. These are only presented
to make you understand the pain and suffering these animals go through.

CANADIAN SEAL HUNT FACTS

Canada's annual commercial seal hunt is the largest
commercial hunt of marine mammals on the planet. Facing harsh criticism
the world over because of the hunt's cruelty and unsustainability,
the Canadian government and fishing industry have spread much misinformation.
Here are the basic facts about the hunt.

Which Seals Are Targeted by Canada's Seal
Hunt?

Harp seals are the primary target of the commercial
seal hunt, and to a much smaller extent, hooded seals are also killed.
In 2006, 98 percent of the harp seals killed were pups under just
three months of age.

Where Are the Seals Killed?

Canada's commercial seal hunt occurs on the ice floes
off Canada's East Coast in two areas: the Gulf of St. Lawrence (west
of Newfoundland and east of the Magdalen Islands) and the "Front"
(northeast of Newfoundland).

Who Kills Seals and Why?

Sealing is an off-season activity conducted by fishermen
from Canada's East Coast. They make, on average, a small fraction
of their annual incomes from sealing—and the rest from commercial
fisheries. Even in Newfoundland, where 90 percent of sealers live,
the government estimates there are only about 4,000 fishermen who
actively participate in the seal hunt each year.

How Are the Seals Killed?

The Canadian Marine Mammal Regulations, which govern
the hunt, stipulate sealers may kill seals with wooden clubs, hakapiks
(large ice-pick-like clubs) and guns. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
clubs and hakapiks are the killing implement of choice, and in the
Front, guns are more widely used.

It is important to note that each killing method is
demonstrably cruel. Because sealers shoot at seals from moving boats,
the pups are often only wounded. The main sealskin processing plant
in Canada deducts $2 from the price they pay for the skins for each
bullet hole they find—therefore sealers are loath to shoot seals
more than once. As a result, wounded seals are often left to suffer
in agony—many slip beneath the surface of the water where they die
slowly and are never recovered.

Is the Seal Hunt Cruel?

Yes. In 2001, a report by an independent team of veterinarians
who studied the hunt concluded that governmental regulations regarding
humane killing were neither being respected nor enforced, and that
the seal hunt failed to comply with Canada's basic animal welfare
standards. Shockingly, the veterinarians found that in 42 percent
of the cases they studied, the seals had likely been skinned alive
while conscious.

Parliamentarians, journalists, and scientists who
observe Canada's commercial seal hunt each year continue to report
unacceptable levels of cruelty, including sealers dragging conscious
seals across the ice floes with boat hooks, shooting seals and leaving
them to suffer in agony, stockpiling dead and dying animals, and
even skinning seals alive.

How Many Seals Are Killed Each Year?

Hundreds of thousands. In fact, over the past three
years, nearly one million seals have been killed. The current kill
levels are higher than they have been in half a century. During
the 2006 hunt, the Canadian government allowed fishermen to club
and shoot at least 354,344 seals. The last time seals were killed
at this rate—in the 1950s and '60s—the harp seal population was
reduced by nearly two thirds.

And the actual number of seals killed is probably
far higher than the number reported. Many seals are shot at and
injured in the course of the hunt, and studies suggest that a significant
number of these animals slip beneath the surface of the water, where
they die slowly and are never recovered.

Are There Any Penalties When Hunters Exceed
the Government's Quota?

No. In 2002, the Canadian government knowingly allowed
sealers to exceed the quota by more than 37,000 animals. Sealers
had already killed substantially more than the quota allowed by
May 15 (the regulated closing date of the seal hunt), and yet the
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans chose to extend the sealing season
until June. In 2004, sealers killed close to 16,000 seals more than
the permitted quota. Again, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
extended the sealing season until well into June.

What Products Are Made from Seals?

Seals are killed primarily for their fur, which is
used to produce fashion garments and other items. There is a small
market for seal oil (both for industrial purposes and for human
consumption), and seal penises have been sold in Asian markets as
an aphrodisiac. There is almost no market for the meat, so seal
carcasses are normally left to rot on the ice.

Is the Seal Hunt Economically Important?

No. Sealing is an off-season activity conducted by
fishermen from Canada's East Coast. They make, on average, one twentieth
of their incomes from seal hunting and the rest from commercial
fisheries. Even in Newfoundland, where 90 percent of sealers live,
revenues from the hunt account for less than 1 percent of the province's
economy and only 2 percent of the landed value of the fishery. According
to the Newfoundland government, out of a population of half a million
people, about 4,000 fishermen participate in the seal hunt each
year.

The commercial seal hunt is an activity that Canada's
federal government could easily replace with economic alternatives,
should it choose to do so.

Does the Government Subsidize the Hunt?

Yes. According to reports from the Canadian Institute
for Business and the Environment, more than $20 million in subsidies
were provided to the sealing industry between 1995 and 2001. Those
subsidies came from entities such as the Atlantic Canada Opportunities
Agency, Human Resources Development Council, and Canada Economic
Development–Quebec. These subsidies take a variety of forms, including
funding the salaries for seal processing plant workers, market research
and development trips, and capital acquisitions for processing plants.

Moreover, Canada's commercial seal hunt is also indirectly
subsidized by the Norwegian government. A Norwegian company purchases
close to 80% of the sealskins produced in Canada in any given year
through its Canadian subsidiary. These skins are shipped in an unprocessed
state directly to Norway, where they are tanned and re-exported.
The Norwegian government provides significant financial assistance
to this company each year.

Is It True Seals Are Jeopardizing the Canadian
Cod Fishery?

There is no evidence to support this contention. Some
fishing industry lobby groups try to claim that seals must be culled
to protect fish stocks, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The scientific community agrees that the true cause
of the depletion of fish stocks off Canada's East Coast is human
over-fishing. Blaming seals for disappearing fish is a convenient
way for the fishing industry to divert attention from its irresponsible
and environmentally destructive practices that continue today.

In truth, seals, like all marine mammals, are a vital
part of the ecosystem of the Northwest Atlantic. Harp seals, which
are the primary target of the hunt, are opportunistic feeders, meaning
they eat many different species. So while approximately 3 percent
of a harp seal's diet may be commercially fished cod, harp seals
also eat many significant predators of cod, such as squid. That
is why some scientists are concerned that culling harp seals could
further inhibit recovery of commercially valuable fish stocks in
the Northwest Atlantic.

Are Seals Overpopulated?

No. The Canadian government and sealing industry have,
at various times, tried to claim that the harp seal population has
"tripled" over the past three decades, or that the harp
seal population is "exploding," or that seals are overpopulated.

This is misleading at best. The harp seal population
in the Northwest Atlantic is the world's largest; it is a migratory
population that spans the distance between Canada and Greenland,
and is supposed to number in the many millions.

In the 1950s and '60s, over-hunting wiped out close
to two-thirds of the harp seal population. By 1974, the population
was considered to be in serious trouble, and senior government scientists
recommended suspending the commercial hunt for at least 10
years.

In the early 1980s, the European Union banned the
import of whitecoat seal skins, effectively removing the principal
market for the hunt at the time. For the next decade, the numbers
of seals killed in the hunt dramatically declined, and the harp
seal population began to recover.

But in the 1990s, the Canadian government rejuvenated
the commercial seal hunt through massive subsidies. And with nearly
one million seal pups killed in the past three years alone,
we can only wonder what the impact will be on the harp seal population in
coming years. Scientists have already sounded the alarm regarding
the poor science used by the Canadian government to set quotas for
the number of seals killed. THE HUMANE SOCIETY.